A sudden thought arose:

“Such is the rarity of trust in this world!”

“We’ve been together for so long. Even without merit, there’s been hardship. Without hardship, surely exhaustion counts for something?”

“Yet, San Cha still harbors so much distrust, insisting I tag along for every foray!”

Jiang Wang cursed inwardly.

“How can there be such a cunning, suspicious, wicked dog in the world?”

“Can’t you just go fight in peace?”

“Would I, Jiang Qingyang, seize the opportunity to flee?”

“Fine, even if I would…”

“But what about training these trouble-fighters who guard the nest? Do you not intend to temper them a little?”

“Without experiencing wind and rain, how can they grow?”

“As your friend, wouldn’t it be perfectly reasonable for me to help you inspect the defenses of this volcanic island?”

Suddenly, San Cha turned its head.

Jiang Wang immediately plastered a smile on his face.

The great trouble-fighter king let out a low roar, and a tide of black light began to gather.

Jiang Wang remained still and silent, not even observing his surroundings. He appeared utterly devoted to the trouble-fighter king, with no intention of escaping whatsoever.

Speaking of which, after consuming San Wei True Fire for so many days, San Cha’s fur was actually becoming more and more lustrous.

As the saying goes: one black, two yellow, three variegated. This stew would undoubtedly have a… unique texture.

The trouble-fighter king beast split its tail into three forks, drawing them back and forth in the air several times.

This action reminded Jiang Wang of Silly Gray, evoking a sense of long-lost intimacy and making him strongly desire to go forward and deliver a kick.

Alas, he could not.

One kick would likely result in… the loss of his foot.

The majestic trouble-fighter king, commanding its grand army, had no idea that someone was comparing it to an ordinary, even foolish, dog.

It simply grandly drew its tail, and from the tips of the three forks, a wisp of faint light, like a leaping fish, shot out and landed near Jiang Wang’s skin.

The faint light, separated by less than a centimeter, enveloped his entire body.

This faint light swam over his outer body, just like those surrounding black-furred trouble-fighters.

Looking around, the faint light surged like a sea wave, possessing a peculiar sense of quiet power.

Jiang Wang clearly perceived that, at this moment, the breaths of this vast trouble-fighter army had completely vanished, utterly undetectable!

Including himself, all traces of breath were gone, as if they had donned invisibility cloaks. No, the effect was far superior to invisibility cloaks.

Invisibility cloaks could not blend into the environment while moving, yet under this faint light tide, the trouble-fighter army continued to advance.

Visually, the army was vast; perceptually, nothing existed within it.

Was this how San Cha could lead its army to surround and hunt opponents?

Surprise bloomed in Jiang Wang’s heart, but what surprised him even more was yet to come.

He subconsciously followed the trouble-fighter king beast; wherever it walked, he followed.

The result was a stumble that nearly sent him sprawling.

When the thought of “stepping into emptiness” and “falling” arose in his heart, he suddenly realized that his limbs had already become part of the faint light.

He could still feel his body, but every part of it had transformed into faint light.

And during the entire process of his body turning into faint light, he himself had been completely unaware!

This was a truly wondrous experience—

He knew that no physical change had occurred to his body; he could even still feel the strength of his flesh, the flow of blood, the trembling of muscles… but at this moment, he truly and realistically existed in the form of faint light.

He was unable to exert any influence on this faint light tide, as this expanse of faint light tide was guided by only one will.

San Cha controlled it all.

But he could also feel what other trouble-fighters could feel.

His five senses were not lost, he just couldn’t use secret techniques like the Immortal State’s sound perception, nor could he truly feel his own eyes and ears; he couldn’t open or close his lips, vibrate his vocal cords, and naturally, he couldn’t speak.

He could only “look” with a fixed perspective and “listen” with his physical body’s hearing.

For example, the smoke from the volcanic island, for example, the wind swept by the faint light tide…

For example…

The faint light swam into a spatial rift!

The huge faint light tide seemed to have found a spatial rift in the high dome, flowing in like water.

Jiang Wang felt as if he were a cluster of shadows, a pool of water, flowing along with the current.

He tried to sense his Dao Yuan, and could feel the vitality of the Dao Yuan within his Heavenly Palace, but he couldn’t control it.

Divine soul-level power also could not be drawn out.

Jiang Wang thus harbored a slight suspicion: If, within this cluster of faint shadows formed by the trouble-fighter army, a power different from the trouble-fighter king beast were to interfere, would it be immediately scattered?

Otherwise, the faint light shadow formed by the combined power of the army wouldn’t suppress individual power to this extent…

But he had no way to test this.

San Cha had given him too many “surprises.”

This fellow actually possessed such an ability, capable of leading the entire trouble-fighter army to wander through spatial rifts!

Jiang Wang now fully understood why he and Zuo Guangshu had suddenly fallen into an ambush, without even an opportunity to escape.

The trouble-fighter army had completed their journey and ambush within the spatial rift, and the actions of this faint light shadow were completely traceless, making it strange if they *could* have discovered it.

He then recalled the trouble-fighter beast group at that time, the immense momentum, the appearance of long-preparedness. The target was perhaps not them, but rather that Kui Niu.

They had simply happened to encounter it, crashing headfirst into the trouble-fighter’s ambush circle.

The most hateful part was… they had even helped drive away Zhong Li Yan at that time!

What kind of selfless spirit was this?

It was simply giving without seeking reward, saving from suffering and hardship, and even sorrow.

So.

Today, the trouble-fighter beast group, with such a grand display, was preparing to surround and hunt what?

Still that Kui Niu?

Or… an even more powerful existence?

Others might not know, but how could Jiang Wang himself not be aware?

During this time, the daily supply of San Wei True Fire, the daily struggle with San Cha, had clearly made San Cha stronger day by day.

Otherwise, how could he, Jiang Qingyang, have obediently remained within the magma lake, without a single attempt to escape?

He didn’t know who San Cha’s chosen opponent was this time, or what abilities it possessed…

Holding vague anticipation, Jiang Wang passively felt the spatial rift within the faint light shadow.

There was no scenery to speak of in such a place; terrifying spatial chaos flows were visible everywhere. There were also some deep, dark caves, which even San Cha guided the faint light shadow to avoid from a distance.

Jiang Wang still “saw” a double-headed ape monkey, which glanced at their cluster of faint light shadows from afar, then leaped away on its own.

Even stranger was that one of the ape monkey’s heads seemed to have seen him, and even threw a disdainful look in his direction…

It must be an illusion.

In general, those encountered in this place avoided each other.

The faint light shadow flowed of its own accord.

San Cha clearly had no intention of getting entangled with this spatial traveler.

But based on Jiang Wang’s understanding of San Cha, the reason why this fellow was willing to be peaceful was likely because it couldn’t catch up…

Even a creature that would attempt to surround and hunt a Kui Niu, and failing to do so, would conveniently surround a few people… if it could block this double-headed ape monkey, how would it let it go?

After this, they didn’t encounter any more passersby.

Jiang Wang also became more familiar with the desolate scene of the spatial rift, finally understanding the environment in which Qin Zhizhen had walked, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

This was also a form of knowledge supplementation; if he were to fight Qin Zhizhen again, his judgment of the falling point of her long saber might be a bit more accurate…

In the state of the faint light shadow, the concept of time was more easily blurred.

Jiang Wang always allocated a portion of his mind to keeping track of time. After about three hours, this journey within the spatial rift finally ended.

The faint light shadow stopped at a certain position within the spatial rift, and a part of the faint shadow, like a branching river, separated and entered normal space.

Jiang Wang knew that this was a group of trouble-fighters, numbering in the hundreds.

Then the faint light shadow began to circle around, separating out parts of the faint shadow in many different positions.

This was the arrangement of ambush soldiers…

As the trouble-fighter king’s indispensable cook, dear friend, and trusted partner, Jiang Wang was very honored to always be within the main body of this cluster of faint light shadows, never once being separated.

He was carried along by the great trouble-fighter king, never leaving its side.

Jiang Wang was deeply moved and chose to silently record San Cha’s “military strategy” routine.

Including the selection of ambush points, the style of setting up the ambush…

It was almost impossible for him to defeat San Cha within the Mountain Sea Realm, but after becoming more familiar with it, it might not be impossible to shake off its pursuit.

If San Cha were human, he would likely be a renowned general.

The entire ambush process was clearly targeted, decisive in action, and completed in a few swift moves.

And then, a bold strike was launched.

He still didn’t know how to cross the spatial barrier; it seemed as if the faint light shadow tilted slightly and naturally flowed out from some opening.

Jiang Wang knew that if he could see the cause of this “opening” clearly, he might be able to easily break spatial barriers. Unfortunately, he couldn’t discern anything.

It seemed as though he had merely been in a daze, and suddenly he was in normal space, seeing floating mountains and green seas.

The faint light covering his body scattered, and a dense trouble-fighter army spread out here.

And Jiang Wang, closely following behind the trouble-fighter king beast, had already seen the target of this hunt—

It was a strange beast shaped like a crane, standing on a horizontally extending stone platform amidst the cliffs of an unknown floating mountain, appearing beautiful and noble.

Its body was green, but adorned with red spotted patterns, and its beak was white like frost and snow, possessing a sharp, cold glint.

Above this unknown floating mountain, there were already trouble-fighter strange beasts shaped like black dogs everywhere.

This bird stood on the cliff, surrounded by groups, with not even a hint of a gap visible.

Clearly, this strange beast was not encountering the trouble-fighter army’s ambush for the first time; there was no surprise in its bird eyes, only anger.

“Bi Fang! Bi Fang!”

It cried out loudly.

Its green feathered wings vibrated, and it actually flew directly towards the trouble-fighter king beast!

Its body was as fast as lightning.

Its frosty white beak opened, and a cluster of flames was spat out, rising with the wind like an inverted bundle of flowers, then instantly spreading into a sea.

Using fire to deal with trouble-fighters, was this bird too foolish?

Just as this thought arose in Jiang Wang’s heart, he was greatly surprised.

Not only because wherever the sea of fire reached, the trouble-fighters all turned to flying ash.

But even more so because he had already recognized, at this moment, that the flame spat out by this bird, which called itself Bi Fang, was actually San Wei True Fire!

However, Bi Fang’s San Wei True Fire was different from his.

His San Wei True Fire was red.

Bi Fang’s San Wei True Fire was also red, but it divided into three layers of flame, producing three colors. Respectively: red, dark red, and light red.

Without careful observation, it was not easy to see, but Jiang Wang, who controlled San Wei True Fire, how could he not perceive it?

Having consumed fire lotuses every day during this period, and having completely depleted his True Fire several times, his San Wei True Fire already had a tendency towards changing to dark red. Although it was still not very obvious, it at least indicated that dark red San Wei True Fire might be the next stage of San Wei True Fire.

But what was the situation with this bird that called itself Bi Fang?

If light red was the final form of San Wei True Fire, then why were the red and dark red flames still retained?

At this moment, Jiang Wang had completely abandoned any idea of escaping. He simply stared intently at this Bi Fang bird, exploring the true meaning of San Wei True Fire!

If he could truly penetrate the mystery of San Wei True Fire, losing three percent of his divine soul origin would be worth it!

Divine soul power could be re-cultivated; divine soul origin could be replenished through other means.

But divine abilities required a single moment of enlightenment to lead to a hundred moments of enlightenment!

The reason why he could use fire-related divine abilities so freely was to a large extent due to Zhuang Chengqian’s “personal instruction.” Not Zhou Feng’s accumulation from Yan Xiao’s beak.

The Fire Source Atlas, the detailed explanation of Flame Flower Burning City… he had mastered many fire-related secret arts. He had never slackened in his research on fire-related matters, accumulating a lot of knowledge and gaining many insights. But regarding the San Wei True Fire divine ability, there had always been a barrier.

He felt resistance, yet didn’t know what it was.

Today, he might have an opportunity to break through the fog!

At this moment, how could he be content with watching from afar?

He had to personally feel that fierce flame, even if it meant burning his body and soul.

His long sword vibrated in his hand, and regardless of whether San Cha understood or not, he shouted loudly: “Do not harm San Cha! I will fight you to the death today!”

He actually moved against the flow within the constantly retreating trouble-fighter beast group, bravely charging towards the enemy beast!

San Cha was shocked.

It had just planned to give the cook a warning before engaging Bi Fang, lest he escape in the chaos.

But it had not expected this two-legged beast to be so loyal to the great trouble-fighter king!

Bi Fang’s fire burned everything.

All the trouble-fighters under it were avoiding it one by one.

Only the cook bravely advanced.

What kind of spirit was this?

What kind of character was this?

It had truly misunderstood the cook for too long, letting the cook suffer grievance for too long!

So much suspicion had caused a loyal good servant to suffer injustice…

It, this king, was not worthy!

The great trouble-fighter king leaped into the air, instantly surpassing Jiang Wang and facing Bi Fang head-on. Its kingly majesty would not allow it to watch its own cook go to his death.

In a furious roar, it swelled up again, blocking Jiang Wang like this, increasing its height and length, and opening its mouth to suck!

The scorching, vast sea of fire was instantly swallowed by half.

San Cha’s entire beast body instantly turned red, so red as to be almost transparent, to the point where even its bones could be seen within!

Its back was directly burned through, and a wisp of flame spurted out.

But soon, faint light blocked it again.

*Pu pu!*

Two more openings appeared, spurting out San Wei True Fire.

Again, they were instantly blocked by faint light.

After several repetitions, the red light on its body actually scattered, and its black skin became oily and bright, its black fur shining.

San Cha stamped its foot in mid-air, looked up and howled, its howl incredibly smooth!

Raising Jiang Wang for many days was used in this one moment.

What nonsense San Wei True Fire, it was just so.

It had already gotten used to eating it long ago!